SPLIT: LORA WAR CRIMES TRIAL RESUMES

SPLIT, Nov 8 (Hina) - The trial of eight former military policemen, accused of war crimes committed at Split's military prison "Lora" in 1992, resumed on Friday. None of the two witnesses who were to testify today appeared in court so the testimony of one of them was read out. #L# The panel of judges said it had been officially confirmed that witness Djordje Katic, who had been summonsed to appear in court several times, was in Australia, which was why he could not be served with the summons. The prosecution requested that a statement Katic made upon his leaving the prison in 1992 be read out. Katic was born in Biskupija near Knin and until July 1992 worked in the Inland Revenue office in Split. In the statement given upon his release, Katic said that he had been taken to Lora on August 28, 1992 by two policemen who had picked him up from his flat without an arrest warrant. He then described how they beat him, connected him to an inductor, calling him a Chetnik and putting a knife under his throat. He also described how a policeman forced him to enter a dog's house on the prison premises and forced him with beating to bark. The prisoners were forced to run around the prison yard, raise their hands in the Ustasha salute and sing Serb songs, all the time being beaten up, Katic said in the statement. The defence objected to the statement, stating there was no evidence on Katic's injuries or a record of his admittance to hospital. Josko Ceh and Ankica Luetic, attorneys for two indictees, said that during Katic's imprisonment none of the indictees had worked at Lora, which they said could be proved with log sheet entries from August 28 to September 2. The trial resumes on November 11. (hina) rml sb